Belt for personal wear



Y 1959 J. A. RIMMER ETAL I 2,884,682

BELT FOR PERSONAL WEAR Filed June 28, 1955 1 INVENTOR 2 \JOHN-A. RIMMER ./\'EDNA F. MARTIN "5' i 'zem a. mu,

\ ATTORNEY preferred type of strand United States Patent BELT FOR PERSQNAL WEAR John A. Rimmer, Dandridge, and Edna F. Martin, New Market, Tenm, assignors of one-third to John A. Rimmer, one-third to Fred E. Rimmer, and one-third to Bruce C. French, all of Dandridge, Tenn.

Application June 28, 1955, Serial No. 518,432 4 Claims. (CI. 28-78) The present invention relates to belts for personal wear and more particularly to belts in which the strap portion is fabricated by interlacing a plurality of strands.

The principal objects of the invention are to provide a belt having a strap portion of the kind indicated which will be resilient and elastic although formed of essentially non-resilient and inelastic material and which will be attractive in appearance, durable in use and easy and inexpensive to manufacture.

Certain preferred embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a top plan View of one form of the strap portion of a belt constructed in accordance with the principles of the invention; 7

Fig. 2 is a similar view of another form of strap portion;

Fig. 3 is an edge view of the strap portion;

Figure 4 is a front elevational view of a dress showing the manner in which the belt is used;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a strip of fabric from which a component of the belt is made;

Fig. 6 is a plan view of the preferred type of strand component; and I Fig. 7 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 7-7 of Fig. 6.

Referring now to the drawing, and first to Fig. 4, the belt is intended primarily for womens wear, Where the use is ornamental rather than functional, inasmuch as the interlaced construction lends itself to the incorporation, in a single belt, of a number of strands of different colors, by which many effects, harmonizing or contrasting with all sorts of womens Wear, can be achieved. However,

' main longitudinal strand unit the structure of the strap portion of the belt is such that itis well adapt-ed also to use in mens belts, where functionality and utility are of primary consideration, because the new strap is inherently resilient and elastic and hence, when provided with appropriate end connections, can, be used with complete success in the 'belt loops'of n'lens trousers. v

The belt strap portion, to which the present invention relates exclusively, is an interlaced Structure of several individual strands. To obtain the full advantages of the preferred embodiments of the invention, these strands are made of special material, i.e., of strips cut from fabric piece goods, preferably nylon tricot knitted fabric, as shown at A in Fig. 5. Such strips have an inherent tendency to curl inwardly from their sides, so that each of them automatically becomes, immediately on being cut from a wide length of piece goods, a cord of single arcuate curvature B on one side and of double arcuate curvature C, C, on the other side, there presenting the appearance of twin parallel cords, all as shown in Figs. 6 and 7. These strands are only moderately resilient, but the belt strap portion that is formed from them according to the principles of the present invention is resilient and elastic in a high degree as the result of the looped form that is given the strands in the interlacing process and the interlooped connections achieved thereby, as will be explained.

Patented May 5, 1959 The basic strip from which the strands are formed is depicted in Fig. 5. While of course dimensions form no part of the invention, a very successful belt strap can be made by using strips of a width of approximately two and one-half inches for the main longitudinal strands and strips of a width of approximately one inch for the aux ili-ary or tying strands. I,

As has been explained, the preferred strip material automatically curls into the shape shown in Figs. 6 and 7. If other strip material be used it is first formed into cord-like strands before the interlacing operation is begun.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 1, which will be described now in some detail, a pair of relatively coarse strands 1 and 2 are laid parallel to forir'i a single main longitudinal strand unit 5, and a similar pair of strands 3 and 4 are laid parallel to form another 6. The two main strand units 5 and 6 are fastened to a support and are held out in straight parallelism.

Two other strands, designated 7 and 8, are provided. These are preferably somewhat smaller in cross section than the longitudinal strand units 5 and 6, and even smaller than the strand elements 1, 2, 3 and 4 thereof. The strands 7 and 8 may be regarded as auxiliary strands and are so designated in the appended claims. Their function is to tie the main strand units 5 and 6 together into a braided assembly, and this is accomplished by disposing the several elements of the combination in the manner shown in the lower portion of Fig. l which will be more readily understood from the upper portion of the figure where the several strands are shown loosely opened up and separated. R

As appears in Figs. 1 and 3, each of the main strand units 5 and 6 is looped or sinuously curved or waved up and down and is tied or held in this form by the loops of the auxiliary strands that pass through the loops of the main strand units and down the sides of the strap. The loops of the two main strand units are staggered, i.e., a conve'xly curved loop of one strand unit is dis? posed directly opposite a concavely curved loop of the adjacent strand unit. This is shown in Fig. 1, where 10 designates the convex surfaces of the loops of the strand units 5 and 6, and 11 designates the concave loops of the strand units.

The auxiliary strands 7 and 8 are passed through these loops in such 'a way that the strand 7 will extend tran'e versely across the strap under each convex loop of each of the main strand units as viewed in Fig. l, and the strand 8 will extend transversely across the strap on top of each concave loop of each of the main strand units as viewed'in Fig. 1. Thus, {as seen in this figure, the auxiliary strand 8 is visible where it crosses the strap at each of the concave loops, as well as along the side edges of the strap where it passes lengthwise of the strap from one loop to the'next one along the length, and the aux?- iliary strand 7 is concealed Where it crosses the strap beneath each of the convex loops, being visible only along the side edges of the strap where it passes lengthwise of the strap from one loop to the next adjacent one On the opposite surface of the strap the reverse of this relationship exists, the auxiliary strand 7 being visible at the crossings and the auxiliary strand 8 being cancealed at the crossings. It will be evident that when different colored strands are selected for making the strap the effect in respect of color is different when the two sides are viewed, so that two quite different appearances are obtained by simply wearing one or the other sides of the belt outermost. Achievement of this effect is facilitated if, as is preferred, the ends of the strap portion of the belt are connected by a reversible buckle, i.e., one which will present a finished and neat appearance from either front or back surface.

The tying or interlacing operation producing the relationship just described and shown in Figs. 1 and 3 is performed as follows:

With the main strand units secured in parallelism as above stated, and the two auxiliary strands secured to them as by being tied, one of the auxiliary strands, say the strand 7, is laid under the strand unit-5, i.e., it is passed crosswise of the unit 5 and the unit 5 is disposed over it. The strand 7 is then passed under a similar loop in the other strand unit 6, and both strand units are then turned up to provide concave loops. The other auxiliary strand, designated 8 is then passed, from the side of the braiding opposite that from which the strand 7 came, across the strap, lying in the two concave loops, making centrally of the strap, where it passes from the concave loop of the strand unit 6 to the concave loop of the strand unit 5, an abrupt offset in direction, as shown in Fig. 1, because of the staggered relationship of adjacent concave loops of the two main strand units. Each of the auxiliary strands lies wholly in a single transverse plane throughout the length of the strap. That is to say, the strand 7 lies above the strand 8 throughout the strap, being shown topmost of the two in Fig. 1 and being sinuously curved back and forth in a substantially flat plane in Fig. 3.

It will be evident that the arrangement is one providing loops in series in each and every one of the strand components, the main strands, or strand units, being looped vertically as viewed in Fig. 1, and the auxiliary strands being looped transversely as viewed in that figure. The result is a highly resilient or elastic assembly that can be stretched considerably with always the inherent tendency to resume its original length. Stretch involves simply a flattening of the loops of the several strands with the creation of stresses that assert themselves on release of the tension so that the loops resume their original curvature and dimensions, with resulting contraction of the strap to its original length. In this way the belt strap is elastic although made of inelastic material.

The ends of the strands of the completed strap are sewed or otherwise secured together and connected to any suitable buckle or other fastener elements for joining as shown at 15 in Fig. 4.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a modification which differs from the form of Figs. 1 and 3 by employing four main strand units 20, 21, 22 and 23 instead of the two designated 5 and 6 in Figs. 1 and 3. The relationship of the several strands is otherwise the same. As will be evident from Fig. 2, the auxiliary strand 7' underlies the loops of all the lengthwise strand units, being covered by the convex loops thereof as viewed in Fig. 2., and the other auxiliary strand 8 is laid in the concave loops of all the main strand units as viewed in Fig. 2. Thus, on stretching the strap, the crossings of the strand 8 are seen and the crossings of the strand 7 are concealed. The opposite would be true if the strap were turned over and viewed from the bottom, or the other surface. The edge view of the Fig. 2 strap is similar to the edge view of the Fig. 1 form, shown in Fig. 3.

Manifestly further modifications employing three main strand units, or even more than the four shown in Fig. 2, may be produced by following the principles of the interlacing operation that have been explained. Inall cases the strands are tied or plaited in the same 4 manner, and the result is in all cases the same except for the number of main strands and the corresponding width of the strap.

It is to be understood that various strand materials may be employed, although to achieve in full measure all the advantages of the embodiments that have been described we prefer to use the curled fabric material shown in Figs. 5, 6 and 7.

We claim:

1. A belt for personal wear comprising a strap composed of a plurality of strands interlaced together, each strand comprising a strip of fabric piece goods having each of its side margins volutely curled inwardly toward the longitudinal center of the strip in a plurality of convolutions forming a relatively solid strand characterized by a cross section presenting a single arcuate curve on one side and a double arcuate curve on the other side. I

2. A belt for personal wear comprising a strap composed of a plurality of strands interlaced together, each strand comprising a strip of tricot knitted fabric piece goods having each of its side margins volutely curled inwardly toward the longitudinal center of the strip in a plurality of convolutions forming a relatively solid strand characterized by a cross section presenting a single arcuate curve on one side and a double arcuate curve on the other side.

3. A belt for personal wear comprising a strap composed of a plurality of strands interlaced together, each strand comprising a strip of nylon knitted fabric piece goods having each of its side margins volutely curled inwardly toward the longitudinal center of the strip in a plurality of convolutions forming a relatively solid strand characterized by a cross section presenting a single arcuate curve on one side and a double arcuate curve on the other side. 4. Abelt for personal wear comprising a relatively narrow, elongated strap composed of a plurality of main strands extending longitudinally of the strap in side by side relation and disposed in a series of loops, with successive loops of each strand lying alternately in opposite surfaces of the strap and with the loops of adjacent strands staggered relatively to each other, in combination with a pair of sinuously disposed auxiliary strands having transversely directed loops extending transversely through the loops of the main strands and lengthwise along the side edges of the strap, each auxiliary strand extending forwardly along a side edge of the strap and being directed inwardly through the rear portion of a loop of a main strand and then being reversely curved and extended through the forward portion of an adjacent loop of the adjacent main strand and finally being forwardly curved along the opposite side edge of the strap.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,027,696 Cummings May 28, 1912 1,870,275 Adams Aug. 9, 1932 1,923,551 Murphy Aug. 22, 1933 FOREIGN PATENTS 73,454 Switzerland Oct. 2, 1916 424,686 Great Britain Feb. 21, 1935 793,332 France Nov. 16, 1935 

